Single Idea 20436

[catalogued under 21. Aesthetics / C. Artistic Issues / 6. Value of Art]

Full Idea

Beardsley says aesthetic experience relieves tensions and quiet destructive emotions. It also aids us in sorting out the jumble in the flow of consciousness, by virtue of its tendencies toward heightened clarity and coherence.

Gist of Idea

Art leads to mental health, and mental clarity

Source

report of Monroe Beardsley (Aesthetics: problems in the philosophy of criticism [1958]) by Noël Carroll - Monroe Beardsley p.162-3

Book Reference

'Key Thinkers in Aesthetics', ed/tr. Giovannelli,Alessandro [Continuum 2012], p.162


A Reaction

I find this claim highly implausible. I like art, but I feel neither healthier nor clearer after experiencing it.